Set in 1968, the script was written by Jerry Juhl about a group of monsters living in the wild around a small New England town, which is the turkey capital of the country.[2]

The production phase made it as far as puppet design, some of which were built and still exist in the archives. Photos of Lisa and Cheryl Henson were taken in Jim Henson's back yard as a test to see how the puppets would look in the real world outside of a sound stage. The intention was to shoot the special on location.[2]

Contents

Graphic novel

In 2011, Lisa Henson mentioned during a Henson.com podcast interview that the project was one of many being looked at for revival. At the time, Kirk Thatcher was working on updating the project while possibly keeping it set in 1968.[2]

Official description

In the spring of 1968, Jim Henson and his longtime writing partner were working together to create an original Thanksgiving TV special called The Musical Monsters of Turkey Hollow, which was to be directed by Jim and feature original songs by Joe Raposo of Sesame Street fame. Henson went as far as building the puppets for the special, but no network committed to the project and the script was filed away in the Jim Henson Company Archives. After the success of Archaia's Eisner Award-winning graphic novel Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand, we are proud to partner with the Jim Henson Company to bring to life another previously unknown piece of the Jim Henson Legacy. The only thing more exciting than finding the script for the project was securing the talents of the amazing Roger Langridge (writer and illustrator of the Eisner Award-winning Snarked) to adapt and illustrate the project! Eisner and Harvey-Award winner Roger Langridge is the mastermind behind the beloved run of The Muppet Show comics, and now he gets to bring to life hilarious, never-before-seen puppet creations by Jim Henson in an over-sized all-ages adventure.

Turkey Hollow is a picturesque town where hundreds of years ago, unbeknownst to the citizens, a meteorite landed nearby a small brook on the outskirts of town. One Thanksgiving, while young Timmy Henderson practices his guitar, he's accompanied by strange, unearthly, musical sounds. That meteorite wasn't a rock at all but an egg holding seven furry, goofy monsters, each with a unique musical sound. After the initial shock, Timmy befriends the lovable creatures following him all around Turkey Hollow. Not everyone takes a liking to the visitors though and it’s up to Timmy to protect his new friends and save Thanksgiving!

Principal photography was set to begin in the spring of 2015 in Nova Scotia, Canada. However, because of a new tax credit,[4] production on the special moved to Front Street Pictures in Vancouver, where filming began on June 8.[5] The special wrapped on July 4 and is expected to air on the Lifetime network on November 21.[6]